The record rainfall and persistent storms of winter 2013-14 caused serious flooding throughout the southwest of England, with breached defences, loss and damage to agricultural land, homes and businesses…

Britain’s warm, wet winter brought floods and misery to many living across southern England, with large parts of Somerset lying underwater for months. When in January rainfall was double the expected average…

Which would you choose to save: your front room or farmland?
EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga
March 10, 2014

This winter’s floods were amongst the most severe in living memory, with swathes of the country submerged. The loss of life has been much lower than for many disasters around the world, but many land owners…

Even the tallest infrastructure creeks under flood pressure.
Derek Harper
February 28, 2014

According to Ofcom, 80% of adults in the UK had access to the internet in 2013 and each spent about 35 hours online each month. And half of all adults in the UK access the web using their mobile phones…

Even if the farmhouse stays dry, the crops are underwater.
Steve Parsons/PA
February 26, 2014

With towns in the south and southwest flooded out, the government has offered £5,000 payments to help homeowners add flood protection to their homes, while small firms will enjoy a cut of a £10m fund to…

I’ve been talking to farmers all this week, many of whom have had their fields underwater for a month or more. It is quite soul destroying to see the natural assets of your business, on which you depend…

We’ve been told to get used to flooding. Whether or not the latest floods were caused by climate change, this winter has reminded us that floods are and will continue to be a fact of human existence, especially…

An estimated 5,800 homes and businesses have been flooded in England and Wales this winter, now officially the wettest ever. By comparison, the total was 55,300 properties after the 2007 summer floods…

Boots on the ground, but who’s talking into their earpieces?
Sean Dempsey/PA
February 20, 2014

Forecasters predict a wetter than normal start to March that will no doubt hamper efforts to bring an end to the misery of those whose homes are underwater. These extended floods and bad weather reveal…

Chertsey: never have so many, owed so much, to one sausage.
Ki Price/PA
February 18, 2014

For much of the 20th century, faith has rested in bigger and better defences to hold back floodwaters. But repeated flooding has shown that large defences cannot, and should not, be the sole focus. The…

With much of the UK still underwater and flooding set to continue, knee jerk reactions abound. Politicians bicker, flooded communities and farmers lobby their causes and calls are made to dredge rivers…

More wet and windy weather arrives week after week, with the inundated areas of the south and southwest of Britain still at the mercy of the elements. Even while politicians begin the blame game, we should…

The flooding of the Thames and Severn rivers over the past week has brought the misery of being flooded to many more people beyond the sodden Somerset Levels. Such a prolonged period of rainfall – the…

Right twice a day - but not this time.
Steve Parsons/PA
February 17, 2014

Flooding continues to afflict many parts of southern Britain. Areas of the Somerset Levels have been submerged for weeks, large parts of the Thames Valley are under water and the River Severn is bursting…

From the isolation of entire villages in the flood-hit Somerset Levels to coastal rail tracks falling into the sea at Dawlish in Devon, the economic, social and emotional damage to those hit by extreme…

Sometimes the choice is to flood town or country. Sometimes it’s both.
Ben Birchall/PA
February 10, 2014

Floods happen. Rivers have always inundated their floodplains and the sea has always tried to reclaim land that has been taken from it. This is certainly true in Somerset, whose name derives from the Old…

The assault on British coastlines by storm, flood and sea this winter is a taste of things to come. Rising sea levels and a greater risk of coastal flooding are a significant future threat. Britain is…

Role reversal: a river of land in fields of water.
Tim Ireland/PA
January 30, 2014

Ministers should be applauded for recognising that there’s simply no way we could tell the thousands of key workers and low income families, desperate for a decent home, that we can’t build any more new…